( xci ) 



captured it on the wing and flew with it behind a bush. 

 After about three minutes the bird flew away, and Mr. Trimen 

 found the moth lying upon the ground. Although there was 

 no obvious injury, except that one fore-wing was bent over 

 and slightly rubbed, the insect seemed paralysed or almost 

 dead. E.jctcohaeae being, however, one of those moths that 

 readily "feign death," and Mr. Trimen being anxious to 

 preserve the specimen just as it was left by the assailant, he 

 placed it without delay in a killing-bottle. 



Aberrations of Alpine Lycaenids. — Dr. T. A. Chapman 

 exhibited several unusual forms of some common " Blues " taken 

 this year in the Valley of the Isere and at Courmayeur 

 (country of the Centrones). 



(1) Polyommatus icarus, ^, from Courmayeur, in which the 

 upperside makes a nearer approach to P. escheri than he had 

 seen in the species. The colour of the blue, its variation of 

 tint towards the margin, the encroachment of the black 

 marginal line as in P. escheri, and the black lines along the 

 veins were all marked. 



(2) A specimen of Agriades thetis {hellargus), (^, from Cour- 

 mayeur, that had black spots round all four wings, being a 

 marked example of the var. punctifera, an African form. 



(3) An example of Polyoinmatn.s hylas, $, from Courmayeur, 

 that was very pale, the blue becoming white against the 

 marginal line. 



(4) A specimen of Hirsutina damon, ^, that was very 

 possibly really a hybrid with A . corydon ; the underside had 

 marginal spots and lunules, much in excess of the faint traces 

 sometimes present in damon; it was taken at Bourg St. 

 Maurice. 



(5) A specimen of Polyommatus escheri, $, in which the 

 ground-colour of the underside was white, so that the white 

 circles round the spots were lost in it. It might easily pass 

 for a distinct species. 



He said that the " blues " of this region are generally large 

 and more than usually variable ; and that it is also the head- 

 quarters in Western Europe of Agriades alexins, Frr. 



Scarce Ants. — Mr. Donisthorpe exhibited a number of 

 $ $ oi Ponera coarctata which he had swept at Box Hill, and 



